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Nancy’s “pratfall” in Damascus

After a meeting with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, Ms. Pelosi announced that she had delivered a message from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that “Israel was ready to engage in peace talks” with Syria. What’s more, she added, Mr. Assad was ready to “resume the peace process” as well. Having announced this seeming diplomatic breakthrough, Ms. Pelosi suggested that her Kissingerian shuttle diplomacy was just getting started. “We expressed our interest in using our good offices in promoting peace between Israel and Syria,” she said.

Only one problem: The Israeli prime minister entrusted Ms. Pelosi with no such message. “What was communicated to the U.S. House Speaker does not contain any change in the policies of Israel,” said a statement quickly issued by the prime minister’s office. In fact, Mr. Olmert told Ms. Pelosi that “a number of Senate and House members who recently visited Damascus received the impression that despite the declarations of Bashar Assad, there is no change in the position of his country regarding a possible peace process with Israel.” In other words, Ms. Pelosi not only misrepresented Israel’s position but was virtually alone in failing to discern that Mr. Assad’s words were mere propaganda.

Ms. Pelosi was criticized by President Bush for visiting Damascus at a time when the administration — rightly or wrongly — has frozen high-level contacts with Syria. Mr. Bush said that thanks to the speaker’s freelancing Mr. Assad was getting mixed messages from the United States. Ms. Pelosi responded by pointing out that Republican congressmen had visited Syria without drawing presidential censure. That’s true enough — but those other congressmen didn’t try to introduce a new U.S. diplomatic initiative in the Middle East. “We came in friendship, hope, and determined that the road to Damascus is a road to peace,” Ms. Pelosi grandly declared.

[…]

The really striking development here is the attempt by a Democratic congressional leader to substitute her own foreign policy for that of a sitting Republican president. Two weeks ago Ms. Pelosi rammed legislation through the House of Representatives that would strip Mr. Bush of his authority as commander in chief to manage troop movements in Iraq. Now she is attempting to introduce a new Middle East policy that directly conflicts with that of the president. We have found much to criticize in Mr. Bush’s military strategy and regional diplomacy. But Ms. Pelosi’s attempt to establish a shadow presidency is not only counterproductive, it is foolish.

And in other news on Pelosi’s Big Adventure, Hamas sympathizer Jimmy Carter was glad “she was sent” to Syria. “Sent”? Who sent her? Didn’t she choose to go herself?

Is there anyone with a functioning brain left in the prominent Democratic party circles anymore?

The founders understood that America has to speak with one voice abroad in order to keep our enemies from exploiting our domestic divisions and to allow our allies to rely on our consistency. Pelosi managed in her trip to screw that up for two nations, the US and Israel. She proclaimed Damascus as the “road to peace” just months after Syrian-supported terrorists attacked Israel, and while they still hold two Israeli soldiers captive. The supposedly peaceful man with whom she met probably ordered the political assassination of Rafiq Hariri and other Lebanese politicians who want a closer relationship with the West.

Pelosi’s “foreign policy” apparently has no problem with these kinds of betrayals … another reason Americans don’t trust Democrats to conduct the nation’s business abroad. Where is Robert Byrd and his pocket Constitution when the Democrats need them?

15 thoughts on “Nancy’s “pratfall” in Damascus”

Pelosi is not just headstrong (I’ve read elsewhere that she alarms even other Dems with her hasty actions), but stupid to boot, apparently.

Either she’s completely misunderstood the Israeli government’s position on ‘peace talks’, in which case Pelosi is simply too moronic to hold any position of power, or else she’s deliberately misrepresenting Israel’s stance, in which case she’s a low-down-dishonest-dirtbag who needs to be 1) voted out at the next election, and 2) prosecuted on whatever charges can be made to stick.

You ought to go look at the comments on some of the liberal moonbat sites. A number of people are saying that it was those dirty, evil Jooooos who lied about what they told Pelosi just to try and embarrass her, they set her up. Yeah, that’s a lot more likely than Pelosi being an idiot who is completely out of her depth.

Yeah, that’s for sure: CCTVs everywhere, ID cards, tracking your vehicle on the road–heck, you even have to give a DNA sample if you’re issued a parking fine, now (you have to show up at the station, pay the fine, and provide the sample).

Eric, you confirm what I’ve been hearing for a while now, about the rising Antisemitism in Europe. It’s long been Europe’s dirty little secret that the governments of the other countries stood by and did little to stop the German oppression of Jews before the war (in fact they basically approved of it), nor did they really care that much until after the war when the publicity got bad after it became apparent how far it went. It’s unfortunately the same mindset the modern Left has both here and in Europe. The sad fact is that it’s not just the Islamist transplants in Europe that are Antisemitic, they are just more vocal and public about it.

Best get out while you can, as you so astutely observe, at least here in this country you can arm yourself for protection. Plus get a decent pizza!

Eric: as a former resident of Nevada, you’ll get no argument from me on that score! “Pinky” Reid’s been an embarrassment for longer than I care to think about. It’s only since he was elected Senate Majority Leader that his corrupt antics are coming to light in a national sense.

There are two ways to interpret that old saying “Pride goeth before a fall”. One is when a person loses all dignity, and wears a foreign symbol on their head, like a scarf. The other is egotism propelled by cheering supporters who will change loyalty faster than they can remember yesterday’s lunch. Pelosi seems to have done both.

Nancy Pelosi is a conniving idiot without brains, but with a lot of Italian chutzpah. Stick-insect boy-Assad is a liar and a murderer of Rafiq Hariri of Lebanon. Plus her mug in a scarf looks a bit like Skeletor or the Scream fright-ghost.

Never mind that the dodo from the City on the Bay misrepresents Israel’s position. But no one except delusional agitpreppies take her seriously.

The Democrats are incapable of running a foreign policy and should be kept from the Oval Office. Jimmy Carter is the biggest proof of this, but Clinton ain’t far behind, as Sandy Berger tried to cover up with his botched document destruction. Clinton has a lot to hide.

And the Peter Principle has proved itself in Pelosi’s case when she kept her high-IQ Jane Harmon off the Intel Cte Chair cuz Jane had brains and Nancy don’t. Ditto her preference for delirium-tremens victim Murtha over Steny Hoyer for Whip.

Gresham’s Law works overtime in the Dem Caucus and the Dem leadership is in a race to the bottom.

How long the MSM will applaud NP’s incompetent pratfalls remains the queston. The WaPo has some residual integrity, but the NYT and LAT lag behind in this respect.